Digital Guardian Taps CA Technologies Cyber Exec as Its New CEO

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Digital Guardian, a cybersecurity business focused on data loss prevention, has tapped a CA Technologies executive to lead the Waltham, MA-based company several months after the departure of CEO Ken Levine.

Mordecai “Mo” Rosen, who most recently managed CA Technologies’ cybersecurity business, is taking over at Digital Guardian from interim CEO, investor, and board member Paul Ciriello. Digital Guardian’s data loss prevention technologies help companies and organizations protect their data, on site and in the cloud. It also offers tools for endpoint protection (think desktop computers and mobile devices) and cyber-threat detection services.

Mordecai “Mo” Rosen, CEO of Digital Guardian (Courtesy Photo)

“Mo is a world-class executive with extensive experience in cybersecurity, managed security, and [software-as-a-service], who’s held senior leadership positions in both successful startups and large public technology companies,” Ciriello said in a press release. “We are pleased to have Mo lead Digital Guardian and truly believe his leadership will accelerate our growth, extend our brand, and deliver on our mission of securing the world’s most sensitive information.”

Rosen joined New York-based software and services company CA Technologies in August 2015 when the company acquired Xceedium, where he was chief operating officer. At CA Technologies, Rosen was part of the team that led the $614 million acquisition of Boston-area app testing and security firm Veracode, which was later sold to private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $950 million.

“Digital Guardian is one of the most innovative companies in security today, and is leading the next generation of content-aware data and endpoint protection,” Rosen said in the press release. “The company has just come off the most successful quarter and year in its history and is poised for its next stage of high growth.”

Levine, a former McAfee executive, stepped down as Digital Guardian’s president and CEO in October for personal reasons, the company said.

Levine joined the company in 2014, known then as Verdasys, and helped turn it around and spark growth. In 2016, he told Forbes that some of his terms for taking over as CEO of the company was he’d take only $1 in annual salary and he would personally invest in the business.

“When I was going to ‘negotiate’ my package I told my wife I was going to mention four things; in exchange for a certain percentage of equity, and being able to submit expenses including first class airfare to the company, I was willing to accept no salary and put $5 million of personal money in,” Levine told Forbes. “When she asked how it went, I told her I got two out of four, I’m not getting a salary and I’m giving them $4 million.”

In 2015, Digital Guardian raised $66 million in a funding round that pushed its total venture haul to about $100 million since its founding in 2003.

Brian Dowling is a Senior Editor at Xconomy, based in Boston. You can reach him at bdowling [at] xconomy.com. Follow @be_d